The athlete's father and grandmother have entered the fight, siding with Bryant's mother. Bryant's sister has supported him, suggesting their mother repeatedly discussed the potential value of the superstar's belongings.

Family members are trading allegations in opposing lawsuits over a planned June auction of more than 100 collectibles from Kobe Bryant's past at a New Jersey auction house.

Pamela Bryant insists her son gave her the items, which include jerseys, trophies and rings from his high school and professional career. Kobe Bryant denies that, saying he wants to give the items to his children.

In a court filing Monday, Pamela Bryant said sworn statements from her son and daughter-in-law contained "many false statements."

She rejected Kobe Bryant's account of a May 2 phone conversation in which she allegedly agreed he never had told her she could have his belongings.

"This conversation never occurred, and I never made that statement," Pamela Bryant said.

She also said her son "never demanded the return of any of the items, nor were they in any way improperly taken from him without his permission."

The athlete's father, Joseph Bryant, and his grandmother, Mildred Cox, supported the mother's claim that Kobe Bryant had declined an opportunity to take the collectibles from his parents' home in suburban Philadelphia.

They said the athlete and his wife had visited the home in 2005 when the Lakers were in town to play the Philadelphia 76ers. Bryant's father and grandmother said Pamela Bryant took Kobe and Vanessa Bryant upstairs to see the sports memorabilia and that the mother returned to say they had no interest in the items.

"My son gave my wife these items over the years, stating, 'Here Mom, these are for you,' " said Joseph Bryant, a former NBA player himself. Their son entered the NBA from Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa., playing for the Lakers since 1996.

He said he suggested to his son "on several occasions that it would be nice for him to take some of the memorabilia he had given to his mother and set up a room in his California house to display the items. He declined to do so," Joseph Bryant said of his son.

Pamela Bryant contends that the collectibles have been in her possession for at least 15 years. According to Monday's filing, she paid about $90,000 to store the items during the past five years at Sinclair Moving in West Berlin, N.J.

The parents also challenged Kobe Bryant's claim that two items on the auction list, a Teen Choice Award surfboard and a trophy, had disappeared from his California home. They said they moved to their son's Pacific Palisades, Calif., home in 1996 but were asked to leave after Kobe Bryant met his future wife.

"The moving company Kobe hired delivered all our belongings, including the memorabilia, to our house in Pennsylvania," Joseph Bryant said. "These items were given to my wife by Kobe." Kobe Bryant later moved from Pacific Palisades.

The family fight erupted after Goldin Auctions of West Berlin announced plans April 30 to sell the collectibles on consignment from Pamela Bryant.

After Kobe Bryant sent a cease-and-desist order, Goldin Auctions sued May 2 in a bid for court approval. The firm noted that it has paid a $450,000 advance to Pamela Bryant, who used it to buy a house in Las Vegas.

Kobe Bryant filed his own lawsuit May 7 in California, seeking to block the sale. Bryant's sister, Sharia Washington of Las Vegas, supported her brother in a filing Saturday in the West Coast case.

"I have frequently heard my mother talk about how the family can make money on items associated with Kobe," she said.

Washington said that she once stored memorabilia from her brother's short-lived music career in her garage but that she returned the items to her brother "because my mother has access to my garage and I feared that she would try to sell that memorabilia."

Washington said she had no knowledge of any talks between Pamela and Kobe Bryant over ownership of his collectibles.